Goodbye Chiang Mai....

Chiang Mai Travel Blog

With
an extra 30 days in Thailand, we had to work out exactly how long we
could reasonably stay in Chiang Mai and still see the parts of the
country which we had wanted to see. We figured about 2 weeks.

So there began our countdown to leaving
Chiang Mai. Realising we hadn't actually seen much of the city
itself, we spent our days off wandering around, visiting the famed
night bazaar and Sunday markets.

The night bazaar was useful for us
to buy souveniers and T shirts but was not full of anything very
original. The Sunday market however was busier and full of all sorts
of different things, sold by locals and tribal villages. We managed
to get some nice handmade cards and souveniers, eat a bit of food and
listen to music of varying quality!! One of the things we liked so
much about Chiang Mai is that you didn't really have to do anything.
It was just a nice place to sit,
relax and take in the view.

Still, our priority was very much Care
For Dogs. With so little time left we decided to go in every day we
could, and thanks to Gill we were able to get a lift in each day. We
both had some time to immerse ourselves, assist with wound dressings
and administer the daily medications. Kate, another volunteer had her
last day just 4 days before ours, so we all went out to celebrate our
time together.

Lisa giving Bridgid her first injections

That's what made it so sad when we had to leave: we
were not only leaving behind loved dogs, but people too. We really
feel we have made some good friends, and it is sad to leave the whole
experience behind.

On our last day we were greeted by 2
new puppies, barely 2 months old which had been dumped at the gate
during the night and been found wandering around on the road just
outside. Lisa has been building up her medical skils, and was able to
give these new puppies their vaccines, along with another couple of
dogs which arrived later that afternoon. It really is a never ending
task to help the dogs of Thailand, but hopefully with the work that
Care For Dogs and other centres are doing to provide sterilisations
and medical care, the situation will one day come under control.
Until then, I am glad that there are people out there that care
enough to give their time and money to help. We have heard so many
people on the street, in bars and on coaches moaning about the mangy,
rabies infected vicious dogs of Thailand, saying you should carry a
stick to hit them away, or stones in your pocket. It's just not true.
As Lisa says, “never trust a person who animals don't like”.